Letters page prizes worth £2,000 for Birmingham Mail readers
I'm delighted with a new partnership I've agreed with Royal Mail, offering our top letter writers a slice of prizes worth more than £2,000 over the next year.
Every week we will be assessing the quality of correspondence published on the Birmingham Mail's 'Your Say' letters page and selecting the best of the week.
The winning reader will be sent a sterling silver impression of the historic Penny Black stamp, which comes complete with a presentation folder packed with information.
Worth £26, the ingot pack is sure to be a collectors' item in years to come, and we will give one away every week for the next year.
Each weekly winner will then be in with a chance of scooping a fantastic 'letter of the month' prize, also courtesy of Royal Mail.
With a retail value of £58, the 2008 Stamp Yearbook is a beautiful record of all the stamps released in 2008.
The boxed book includes all the stamps issued that year as well as articles about the stamp subjects and the stories behind the designs.
We have scores of letters every day, and this partnership is welcome as a way of rewarding the best correspondents.
Readers interested can take part by sending letters for publication in print editions of the Birmingham Mail to: The Editor, Birmingham Mail, Floor 6, Fort Dunlop, Fort Parkway, Birmingham B24 9FF.
Alternatively, you can email letters@birminghammail.net or call freephone number 0800 138 2555 or 0870 830 6985 between 8am and 5.30pm specifying that you are submitting a letter to the Birmingham Mail.
Good luck!
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Steve Dyson - Blog from the Editor on recent issues and events.
Wow, Waa, Wee Waa! ........ Big prizes at the Mail, Maybe after last weeks cheap dig at the E&S, this means the Birmingham Mail (2nd City Status) will leap from Blue Square Non League Status in the circulation figure table and maybe get with the tens of thousands of sales it is currently behind the E&S!
I know from working at both the Mail and E&S fans of Wolves and WBA who attend matches read the E&S which is sold on match days outside the grounds with a poster, football wrap around....etc..., Whenever I attended a match at Sti Andrews or Villa Park there wasn't a Mail in sight, Simply because you can't be bothered to pay for sellers to stand outside the grounds for a few hours or build a relationship with the individual club to be allowed to sell at the ground. I expect it won't be long before the Sunday Mercury is selling more papers on sunday than the Mail sells on a Monday soon.
I see the Mercury has done itself proud again this month with a string of journalism awards, well done, its great to see a real paper still lives on in Birmingham!
PS. how long has Darth Faber been an editior at the E&S? If Dyson is allowed to continue his demolition of the Trinity Mirrior Midlands for much longer I doubt he will come within touching distance of Faber's reign!
Gosh! Hope venting your spleen helped, former employee. Seriously, best of luck with whatever you're up to.
Ouch! I think former epmployee may have touched on a few fine points there, I did read Dyson's dig at the E & S last week and also thought it was very poor and cheap , if the letter was written by Gareth Barry to Villa fans it's anyone's business to publish, surely if the E & S readers read it? that is wider readership than the Mail anyway.
So is it true that the Birmingham Post is soon to become a pull out of the Birmingham Mail main paper, Mark Reeves is moving into a digital/online role?
Ooo, you gossip-monger, Ms or Mr Fox! If you honestly take account of any old tittle-tattle we may as well presume that Birmingham is becoming a seaside resort because of global warming from 2012! ie: Your odd comment re. rumours does not merit a serious reply.
But I'll happily engage with the Gareth Barry debate... on the appropriate post. See you there.
Cant understand this bigging up of the Mercury. It's a Sunday Sport light for Midland pensioners using the same old tired formula. The E&S might sell because they're still waiting for electricity to enter the new media age in Wolverampton. As for the Post, how it has survived this long is a bigger mystery than how Sly earns such a salary for killing off newspapers. End of lecture. Steve, use the force!
That's fine getting prizes but can you make it a level playing field by banning that serial scribbler S T Vaughan?
so if Sly Fox is nothing more than a gossip-mongerer , what does that make the BBC?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8116908.stm
What a Joker Dyson! You really will go down in history, the first thing you did on your return to the Mail was close down (move to a friday pull out) the "Sporting Argus" britains oldest saturday sports paper, followed by [word removed for taste and decency reasons - moderator] £1 million on a Mail relaunch/brand which helped lose half its readership and its identity (Genius!!!!!), then you restructure all three titles and weasil your way to become editor of all 3 titles. Admit the Post will lose its daily status, it will become part of the Mail as a pull out, if not this blog at least tell your staff the truth! I look forward to your reply. Not that it will be a straight bat answer!
Yours Truly (gossip-mongerer)
A variety of excitable posters... none relating to the subject of this blog! I'll respond to Skywalker's Sunday Mercury comment on the appropriate blog below. As to the other pseudonyms' speculation, they simply do not merit any response.
A predictable response from Dyson...
Where's your fighting spirit man?!
And what's with this 'post moderation' malarkey?
Tastes and decency? If you exercised that policy on your paper it would be half empty!
Freedom of speech, heard of that?
Er, the only post-moderation was a word not allowed in my publications or sites I edit. If you like that sort of language, you'll find it on top-shelf sites, not here! I think you'll find freedom of speech fairly healthy on my blog but for that. As for fighting spirit, my boy, there's plenty... but it's shadow-boxing only when dealing with brave pseudonyms!
I read the blog late last night but don't recall any profanity? However, if you think that's the sort of thing you would find on a 'top-shelf site', then that's your business. Whatever floats your boat big fella!
Brave pseudonyms? I think you'll find that 99% people who post on blogs/forums use aliases. Welcome to the Internet.
Get over it...
Hi Steve,
Whilst I applaud your involvement in the blogosphere , coming over all high and mighty about posters being off topic is evading the issue.
What do you think is on most of your staffers minds right now ?
It sure ain't postage stamps baby.
As for pseudonyms - does it really matter ?
A valid point is still a valid point , whether it's posted anonymously or not.
The only ineluctable truth is that the internet is asphyxiating newspapers , especially regional newspapers, it's happening fast and it's happening right now. End of.
Straight Bat: I hear you. But please realise my blog is a public one, for readers as well as interested staff. As you know if you read it regularly, I am not backward in coming forward on anything, including staff matters when appropriate. But now is not the time and here is certainly not the place to discuss what is, quite simply, unconfirmed speculation. We have staff forums (one met today) and NUJ reps, and anything the company needs to discuss must be talked about at those meetings first. That said, let me be quite plain that if any staff member has any personal concerns about anything, they know they can book a slot to speak to me 1-1 at any time.
Mr. D.
Fair play to you.
An honest answer shines like a good deed in a naughty world.
Sly will keep chopping away tho' until the numbers add up.
Bottom line ? as long as the paper is filled , there is no difference for Ms Bailey if the content is TV led , inane celebrity tittle tattle, PA drop ins for national pages , yesterdays news for overnight pages and a wan smattering of local sport.
The Mail has an ageing readership, when was the last time you saw some one under 30 reading a newspaper on a bus ?,and will be nothing more than a folk memory within a generation.
Au revoir and bon chance.
Straight Bat: Please read tomorrow evening's 'letter of the week' on the Birmingham Mail's 'Your Say' page. That alone gave me a spark of confidence today.